New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction; Prostitutes -- Fiction
"I want you come to District Attorney's, da place you go witha that
fine gentleman Dyker. You won'ta be hurt. You can peeck out any cop
on da way to go along, an' you weell knowa da place."
"Does he want me--that lawyer I talked to there before?"
"I been to see him an' tell him we come."
"Then what am I to do when I get there?"
"Taka back all you say for thata Dyke'. Da's all: no more--only so
mooch. I won't bother you no more; thata lawyer won't bother you no
more; Dyker won't bother you no more. You do that, or losa da job.
Wheech?"
Violet put her hand before her eyes. She knew as well as a wiser
woman what had happened. Angel had traced her to Katie's, to the
hospital, to the settlement, to the employment-agency--he was
doubtless familiar with such places--to this house. Rose's latest
captive had been turned out on the streets before the raid and lost
to sight. The entire white-slavery charge now rested on Violet's
testimony, and Angel's purpose was to have her withdraw the affidavit
she had made. In her present condition, she could not, she thought,
be of any further use to him; that purpose served, he would be only
too glad to let her again hide herself, and, hidden here, with Dyker
elected and engaged by newer cares, she might escape both friends and
foes. Terror drove out all desire for revenge upon Rose Légère; it
drove out even the power to keep her promise to Dyker. All that she
wanted was her job.
"All right," she said. "Wait till I go upstairs and get permission."
"No treecks," cautioned Angel. "Eef you try treecks, I go upstair'
myself."
She promised, and left him, presenting to Mrs. Chamberlin in the
library, a moment later, a face that bore out her story of the
illness of a friend.
"Well," said the invalid, "if you go out I shall be certain to need
you; but I suppose there is no help for it. Don't be gone more than
an hour."
Violet joined Angel in the area, and went with him, but, though she
was disposed toward silence, she was surprised to find the Italian in
a pleasant, even a genial, mood.
In his moment of success, he was well-nigh magnanimous. He bore not
a trace of malice, seeming to regard the whole matter as a game in
which all the moves on both sides had been in accord with the rules.
He chattered a variety of gossip about everything and every person
save those who were most intimately concerned in his present action,
and only as they neared the office, where a light showed that the
young assistant had remained in accordance with the word that Angel
had previously brought him, did he touch upon the matter in hand.
"No treecks, now," he cautioned. "All you gotta do ees tella heem
you were Rosie's frien' an' she hit you, so you gotta drunk an'
wanted to maka trouble."
"Won't he be cross?" asked Violet, her agitation returning anew.
"Naw," Angel reassured her. "He's used to sucha t'ings. Don'
forgot, an' I give you five doll'."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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